Jewels & Drapery Vase - Honeycomb Vase - Basketweave Vase - Ribbed Spiral - Opalescent Vase

ID GUIDE, Part I:

MISCELLANEOUS  OPALESCENT  VASES (1898-1912):

   

Green opalescent Northwood's Jewels & Drapery vase,
circa 1907, with view of vase interior

photos by d00dlesb 

Introduction

          This is a reference guide to American pressed-glass opalescent vases manufactured at end of the Victorian Era, around the turn of the century (1898-1912).  The guide focuses on "conventionally-shaped" vases (as opposed to footed, novelty and celery vases), with the intent of aiding buyers and sellers in distinguishing and identifying similar-looking early American opalescent vases. 

           During the late 1800's and early 1900's, a number of American glassworks issued opalescent pressed-glass vases.  Most of these firms were centered in Middle America, and included such companies as Albany Flint, Co-operative Flint, Chicago Flint, Dugan & Diamond, Fenton, Jefferson, Model Flint and Northwood.  Opalescent pressed glass was made by adding bone ash to the glass while it was still molten, and by fusing and repeatedly firing layers of transparent and translucent glass until the edges took on a milky translucence.  Such glass typically shows a fiery reddish opalescence when held up to a light.  (Excellent photographs of an opalescent pressed-glass vase held against sunlight can be viewed in our glass glossary under opalescent glass.) 

          Opalescent vases of this period appear most often in white, green, blue, and aqua (a light blue-green).  Less commonly, such vases are found in the a purplish shade sometimes referred to as "cranberry opalescent" or "amethyst opalescent".  A variety of glassworks also issued opalescent vases in a bright yellow called  "canary."  Due to its uranium content, canary opalescent glass fluoresces bright yellow-green under a black light.  "Canary" is the early term for "vaseline" glass.    

          Part I of this guide features the following vases with basketweave, honeycomb, drapery and ringed or spiral patterns:  Chicago Flint's Frosted Leaf & Big Basketweave;  Northwood's Jewels & Drapery;  Honeycomb, whose maker is unknown; Model Flint's Ribbed Spiral; and Fenton's Ring Optic;  Part II  features six ribbed and paneled vases.   Part III features canary opalescent vases of unknown origin.

          If you're having trouble identifying an early opalescent vase, and don't see it here, try our 5-part guide titled "Carnival & Opalescent Glass Twins" which focuses on opalescent vase patterns that later resurfaced in carnival glass form; and our 5-part guide on early opalescent vases issued by the Jefferson Glass Company.   Both guide series can be accessed by clicking "GUIDES INDEX" at the bottom of this page.  These guides have been made possible by the many E-Bayers who have contributed photographs to this project.

Photographic Gallery of Opalescent Vases

Frosted Leaf & Big Basketweave
blue opalescent whimsey vase, circa 1901-1911,
made by the Chicago Flint & Lime Glass Co.

photo by unclechamps 

Frosted Leaf & Big Basketweave.  The Chicago Flint & Lime Glass Company of Chesterton, Indiana, was founded in 1901 and specialized in pressed opalescent glass.  Chicago Flint operated at full capacity until 1905 and thereafter produced glass sporadically until 1911, when an explosion closed down the glassworks permanently.  Chicago Flint issued the Frosted Leaf and Basketweave pattern in a variety of shapes, including spooners, which were sometimes "whimseyed" into taller vases like the one shown above.  A whimsey is a piece pulled from a mold intended for production of another shape; whimseys were often one-of a kind, or were issued in very limited production.  According to the Standard Encyclopedia of Opalescent Glass, 5th ed., p. 186, Chicago Flint's Frosted Leaf & Big Basketweave whimsey vases are "very hard to find".  The above vase is from E-Bayer unclechamps' collection, which contains more than 700 opalescent vases.  Frosted Leaf & Big Basketweave vases, which measure from 9 1/2" to 11", were issued in white, blue and canary opalescent pressed glass. 

              

Green opalescent Honeycomb vase
photos by johnsmolen

Honeycomb Vase.  This pressed-glass vase features a stretched honeycomb pattern of interlocking hexagons.  The rim of the vase is unusual -- it has nine points, each with three small knobs.  The vase's base (shown below) features a pressed, many-rayed star set inside the border of ribbed petals; viewed from above, the petals form a a skirt around the bottom of the vase.  At least three shapes appear in the Honeycomb pattern:  an oil lamp, a footed bowl, and the vase -- which appears to have been pulled from the bowl's mold.  The vases appear in white, blue and green opalescent.  Green is the most valuable color, followed by blue and then white.  The standard-size vases appearing on E-Bay in 2007-2008 have had bases measuring 3 5/8", and heights between 12 and 12 1/4".   We've only seen one example of this vase in squatty size:  a squatty white opalescent Honeycomb vase measuring 5 3/4" tall surfaced on E-Bay in August, 2008; the vase was discovered by E-Bayer lucas676902fj, and is shown below: 

Squatty-size Honeycomb Vase in White Opalescent Glass
photos courtesy of  lucas676902fj

According to Opalescent Glass from A-Z, rev. ed. (2000), p. 68, William Heacock originally attributed the Honeycomb pattern to the West Virginia Company Hobbs, Brockunier.  Joann Elmore, the editor who posthumously revised Heacock's works, notes, however, that the pattern may have been made by another company --  possibly Phoenix, Northwood, Dugan or even a British glass works.  Edwards and Carwile, authors of The Standard Encyclopedia of Opalescent Glass, 5th ed., p. 85, write that the pattern is called Hobbs Honeycomb by many collectors.  "The more we see of this pattern," the SEOG's authors nonetheless note, "the more we are convinced it was made by someone else."  Edwards & Carwile call the pattern "Honeycomb," and record that it also goes by the name "Oval Honeycomb."  The authors feature the vase in the SEOG's section on vases manufactured between 1880 and 1930.   

 

An aqua opalescent Jewels & Drapery Vase, standard size,
with a green squatty vase, and details of the jewel pattern rimming the base

photos by Glass Pack Rat (left)
and d00dlesb (right and center)

Jewels & Drapery (Northwood).  The Northwood Glass company of Wheeling, West Virginia produced a variety of early opalescent vases from 1902 to 1908.  Among these were Jewels & Drapery vases, which the company first issued in 1907.  The Jewels & Drapery pattern features drapery-like folds that extend from the vase's rim to its base.  The vase's bottom edge is ringed with a circlet of raised dots or "jewels," surrounded by pinpoint dots, and the base's underside is smooth glass.  Jewels & Drapery vases are found in blue, green, aqua and white opalescent glass.  Blue is the most valuable, followed by green and aqua, which are equally valuable, and then white.  Vases appear in a squatty size (shown at page top), and in a standard size (shown directly above), in heights ranging from 7" to 12".  The squatty vase shown here is 7" tall and the standard is 11".  Both have base diameters of 3 3/4".

In Harry Northwood: The Wheeling Years, pp. 33-34, William Heacock features pages of 1906 Lyon Brothers catalogs that show Jewels & Drapery vases under the name "Venetian Opalescent".  The catalog also displays a variant of the Jewels & Drapery pattern, in which a row of pendants hang just above the vase's bottom rim, below the circlet of jewels.  Both the Jewels & Drapery vase and its variant are referenced in the Standard Encyclopedia of Opalescent Glass, 5th ed., at p. 93.  Northwood also issued Jewels & Drapery vases in clear and green crystal in 1907; samples appeared on E-Bay in March, 2007 (green) and March 2008 (clear).  Only one known specimen of this pattern exists in carnival glass:  it is an emerald green vase with "a soft radium iridescence," featured on p. 149 of the Standard Encyclopedia of Carnival Glass, 10th ed., p. 149.  The Jewels & Drapery pattern also appears in novelty bowl shapes, in vaseline, blue, aqua, green and white.

Fenton's Cameo Opalescent Swung Vase, circa 1927 (left)
and Model Flint's Ribbed Spiral vase, circa 1902 (right)

photos by shoepassion (left) and curculiosglass

Ribbed Spiral Vase.  The Ribbed Spiral  vase (shown above right) was made by the Model Flint Glass Company of Albany Indiana between 1900 and 1902.  The pattern features ascending concentric rings that seem to spiral up the vase; the rings are crossed by vertical lines that run from the vase's rim to its base.  The vases have somewhat flared, ruffled mouths, and the underside of each vase's base has a distinctive pattern of concentric circles.  Ribbed Spiral vases appear in three sizes:  a mini or "squat" vase measuring 4 1/2" to 7"; a standard vase ranging from 8" to 14"; and a tall or "funeral" vase, measuring from 15" to 21".  All have bases measuring 3 5/8".  The vases were issued in clear glass, as well as in "flint" (white), blue and "canary" (yellow) opalescent. Canary Ribbed Spiral vases show pronounced fluorescence and glow bright green under a black light.  These vases are referenced on p. 131 of the Standard Encyclopedia of Opalescent Glass, 5th ed.  Ribbed Spiral vases are a precursor of the highly collected Imperial Ripple vase. More extensive information on Model Flint and additional photographs of Ribbed Spiral vases can be found in our E-Bay guide on Ripple vases.

Ring Optic Cameo Opalescent Swung Vase.  This pretty vase (shown above left),  is of  later Vintage than the other vases covered in this guide, but is nevertheless worth mentioning.  The vase features a spiral of opalescence encircling a beige / light brown body.  The piece shown here is 13" high with a 3" base, and the base is smooth, without an impressed logo or pattern.  A comment in a January 27, 1927 Pottery, Glass & Brass Salesman described Fenton's Cameo's opalescent ware as follows:  "The almost silky appearance of the translucent portion, which invariably is the edge, is strikingly in harmonious contrast with the transparent part which constitutes the body."  David Doty notes at his website that collectors have come to call this pattern Ring Optic  (ddoty.com/ringopticvase.html), although Fenton issued the vase originally only under as a numbered, nameless pattern known as #1530 and #1531 (for 12" and 16" sizes) and as #1631 (for the 13" size).   Margaret & Kenn Whitmyer's Fenton Art Glass 1907-1939, 2nd ed. (pp. 172-173), records that Fenton issued the vases in 12" and 16" vases in 1926-1927.  (The 13" vases are documented in William Heacock's Fenton Glass:  The First Twenty-Five Years, at p. 72 & 138.)  Between 1921 and the mid-1930's, Fenton produced the ring optic pattern in several stretch-glass colors and in jade green as well  (see Whitmyer. pp. 129, 137, 141, 187).   Easily confused vases:   Fenton's Cameo opalescent swung vase is often confused with Model's Flint's Ribbed Spiral vase, (above right).  Cameo vases also appear occasionally on E-Bay mislabeled as opalescent Imperial Ripple vases.  To compare photographs of Ripple vases, click here.

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 Click here to continue on to  Part II.

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Many thanks to E-bayers  d00dlesb,   jmpqt2u (Glass Pack Rat),  johnsmolen,  lucas676902fj,  shoepassion  and unclechamps,  for generously contributing photographs to this part of our guide.  Rights to all photos belong to the photographers, and pictures should not be used without their permission.  Text is (c) 2007 curculiosglass, all rights reserved.  To locate any E-Bay seller mentioned here,  just click on "Site Map" at the bottom of your E-Bay screen, and then click on "Feedback Forum" at the right top corner of the large menu that pops up.  Type or copy the seller's name into the Feedback Forum's search blank.   PLEASE LEAVE FEEDBACK ON THIS GUIDE BY PRESSING THE BUTTON BELOW.   To access our other guides, just click here:  GUIDES INDEX.